This Application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 1999-35034 filed on Aug. 23, 1999, Korean Patent Application No. 1999-44602 filed on Oct. 14, 1999, and Korean Patent Application No. 2000-80 filed on Jan. 3, 2000.
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display and a method of fabricating the same and, more particularly, to a flat panel display which has gate electrodes for making electrons to be emitted from electron emission sources, and a focusing electrode for controlling flow of the emitted electrons.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, a flat panel display (FPD) has a faceplate, a backplate, and a side wall that are combined together to form a vacuum tight cell. The vacuum degree of the cell is established to be about 10xe2x88x927 torr.
In case such a flat panel display, it is difficult to constantly maintain the cell gap due to the difference between the internal pressure and the external atmospheric pressure. For this reason, one or more spacers are provided within the cell to maintain the cell gap in a constant manner.
In the case of high voltage flat panel displays, the distance between the faceplate and the backplate reaches 1 mm or more. In this case, the electrons emitted from the electron sources do not land on the correct phosphors but strike the neighboring incorrect phosphors. In order to prevent such a mis-landing, the conventional high voltage flat panel display is provided with a focusing electrode for controlling flow of the emitted electrons.
In consideration of the above problems, U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,690 discloses a field emission display that has a gripper disposed on the faceplate, a locator disposed on the backplate, and a spacer wall interposed between the gripper and the locator to secure the internal space of the device in an effective manner. A focusing electrode surrounds emitters to control flow of the electrons emitted from the emitters.
In the above structure, the locator and the focusing electrode are formed through depositing a photoresist film onto a substrate based on spin coating or screen printing, and performing photolithography with respect to the photoresist film. In such a photolithography process, since thermal expansion coefficients of the electrode formation material and the plate formation material are different, their physical properties are liable to be deteriorated, and, after vacuum deposition, their moisture contents are slowly flown out while making damage to the minute emitters, decreasing the device life span. Furthermore, a high cost paste is deposited onto the plate by several tens micrometers to form electrodes, resulting in increased production cost.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display which can be fabricated in a stable manner at an economic cost.
This and other objects may be achieved by a flat panel display including a faceplate, a backplate combined with the faceplate to form a vacuum tight cell, and a light emission unit placed within the cell to emit light from the cell. The backplate has a plurality of electron emission sources. A frame is mounted on the backplate with opening portions. The electron emission sources are exposed through the opening portions of the frame toward the faceplate. A plurality of spacers are formed on the frame such that the spacers are positioned at a non-display area within the cell. A plurality of gate electrodes are formed at a surface of the frame with a predetermined pattern. The gate electrodes has opening portions communicating with the opening portions of the frame.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of fabricating a flat panel display includes the steps of forming, a plurality of cathode electrodes on a first substrate, and forming emitters on the cathode electrodes as electron emission sources. A frame is then mounted onto the first substrate. The frame has opening portions corresponding to the emitters, a plurality of spacers positioned at a non-display area to maintain a cell gap, and a plurality of gate electrodes formed on a surface thereof. An anode electrode is formed on a second substrate. A plurality of phosphor layers are formed on the anode electrode. Finally, the first substrate is combined with the second substrate to thereby form a vacuum tight cell.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of fabricating a flat panel display includes the steps of forming a plurality of cathode electrodes on a first substrate, and forming emitters on the cathode electrodes as electron emission sources. A frame is then mounted onto the first substrate. The frame has opening portions corresponding to the emitters, a plurality of spacers positioned at a non-display area to maintain a cell gap, a plurality of gate electrodes formed on a surface thereof, and a focusing electrode formed on an opposite surface thereof. A plurality of anode electrodes are formed on a second substrate. A plurality of phosphors are formed on the anode electrodes. Finally, the first substrate is combined with the second substrate to thereby form a vacuum tight cell.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, in a method of fabricating a flat panel display, a plurality of cathode electrodes are formed on a first substrate with a predetermined pattern. Thereafter, a photosensitive dielectric layer is formed on the first substrate through screen-printing a photosensitive dielectric paste onto the entire surface of the first substrate, and drying the paste. The portions of the photosensitive dielectric layer corresponding to a pixel area are removed through partially exposing the photosensitive dielectric layer to light, and developing the light-exposed dielectric layer. Electron emission sources are formed at the removed portions of the dielectric layer. A plurality of opening portions are formed at a frame. The frame is formed with a photosensitive glass. A plurality of gate electrodes are formed on a surface of the frame. A plurality of spacers are formed on the frame at a non-display area. An anode electrode is formed on a second substrate. A plurality of phosphor layers are formed on the anode electrode. Finally, the frame is mounted onto the first substrate such that the electron emission sources are placed within the opening portions of the frame, and the second substrate is combined with the first substrate to thereby form a vacuum tight cell.